


Assimilation of a Fear

by AJGhostWolf



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Dating, Gen, Human in animal world, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Torture, Why Did I Write This?, prisoner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:59:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 8,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23287411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJGhostWolf/pseuds/AJGhostWolf
Summary: Well, I don't know why I wrote this  kinda regret but I'm kinda having fun . . . . so sorry. It's a serious fic, though that I hope you'll like! Kelby, a Human who's been tortured by other Humans in his own universe, is suddenly in another one where animals walk on two legs and Humans don't exist. Enjoy!
Relationships: Judy Hopps/Nick Wilde
Comments: 10
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

“Oh sweet cheese and crackers, Nick, we gotta call this in.” 

“Uhh, yeah, Carrots, we definitely do.” 

Kelby barely heard the conversation past the pounding of the rain and his badly-aching head, but he heard it, and he was afraid. The only people who could find him had nothing good in store for him, and they must have found him. 

Kelby made a whole-hearted attempt at lunging away from where he thought the voices were, but his two-inch progress just smashed him into someone’s legs. 

There was sudden shouting and panic. 

“Nick!” 

“Carrots get back it’s attacking!” 

The level of fear and anger in that sentence was enough to convince Kelby that the gloves were off, and he made another try at escaping. In the right direction, this time. 

“Nick it’s trying to get away! 

And Kelby slammed to the asphalt and into unconsciousness. 

* * * * *

Kelby’s second waking was calmer. 

He found that he was on a cot, in a cell. His various wounds all bound up and treated. 

Blind panic came back and choked him. If they were trying to heal him beforehand, how bad was the punishment this time going to be? 

Bad. Very, very bad. 

He was hyperventilating when the two voices from the day before came into earshot. 

“How is it?” 

“More importantly:  _ what _ is it?” 

A new voice sighed. “Better, and I have no idea. It’s . . . . it’s not in our database. In  _ any _ database. This is an entirely new species!” 

“What can it do?” 

“I don’t know yet, officer, but, if it’s awake, hopefully we can find out.” 

To Kelby’s massive shock, a fox, rabbit, and an otter came in front of his cell, all walking on two feet and wearing human clothing. 

He was hallucinating, right? He had to be. 

Kelby, still staring at the animals who also stared at him, leaned down and bit his arm. 

Nothing. 

Well, the otter saying, “What are you doing?! What is it doing?! Stop it!” certainly happened, and it terrified the hell out of him. 

Kelby pressed against the wall, panicking and hissing as cracked ribs were jostled. This couldn’t be happening, what the hell was going on, why was this happening, was he having a psychotic break, did they actually get him to snap? Holy shit holy sh _it holy shit_ \--

Judy, Nick, and Dr. Rells watched in horrified amazement as Kelby folded himself into the corner and had a panic attack. 

“Don’t move,” Dr. Rells finally blurted, darting to a support column that had an old landline hooked to it and dialing the office. “He may be having a seizure, I don’t know what’s going on. Yes cell block B, hurry.” 

“What’s . . . .?” Judy stuttered lamely, pointing at Kelby. 

Rells gave a scared and irritated shrug and ran his paws over his head. “I don’t know, it’s not in the database, so I can’t say that sedation would be harmless but we just may have to do it anyway,”--he winced as they watched Kelby slam the back of his head into the wall--“before he hurts himself. You can stay here, just try not to get in the way.” 

He finished with a sharp nod and ran toward the coming med unit, wheeled by a wolf and a black bear. Both went into the cell and restrained Kelby, who thought he was fighting for his life in the middle of a psychotic break. 

He didn’t go down easy, and everyone in the room winced hard when one of his ribs snapped and he screamed. 

That was too much for him, and he again crossed the divide. 

Everyone was properly shaken, but moved on to do their work in the calmer atmosphere. The medical assistants cleaned Kelby up and made sure to leave water in the bowl by the door, and an extra blanket. 

“D’ya reckon that it’s feral, doc?” Nick asked in a hushed tone. 

Rells just shook his head and rubbed his fur some more. “I don’t know,” he said miserably. “It acts like it.” 

“But its eyes,” Judy said softly. “They . . . . it seemed so, so aware!” 

Rells just gave a groan. “Please, I just don’t know and I’m very tired. I’ll have to draw up some new species indexing papers, anyway. It would probably be a good time for you to call it a night, officers.” 

“Yeah. Carrots,” Nick prompted, directing a pointed look at Judy. 

“Fine. ‘Night.” 

* * * * *

“So, we don’t know what it is. Any thoughts, opinions?” Bogo asked. 

“Couldn’t say, sir,” Nick told him. “It was just . . . .  _ weird _ .” 

“And scared,” Judy put in gravely. “It was badly, badly hurt, chief, and I’d bet it thinks we’re going to hurt it somehow.” 

“I hate all this ‘it,’” Bogo grouched. “Try to talk to it in the morning and see if it understands our language. See if you can get a name, species, anything.” 

“Will do, chief.” Nick wearily hopped from his chair and held the door open for Judy on the way out. 

  
  


* * * * *

“Hi,” a small voice said. 

It seemed . . . . friendly, which was strange enough that Kelby forced himself to roll over and look. A rabbit. Sitting cross-legged on the floor. Dressed as a cop. Saying hi. Yep, he was officially losing it. 

“I’m Officer Judy Hopps,” the rabbit said gently. 

Wow. Real name. Kelby opened his mouth, but the feeling of cracking stopped him from speaking and made him cough. The flare of pain from his back and ribs was not a welcome addition to that, either. 

“Can you understand me?” Hopps asked when he’d finished hacking. 

Kelby merely gave a small, pained nod. 

“Amazing,” the rabbit breathed. She shook herself from that and pointed at the bowl. “There’s some water over here.” 

Kelby grimaced at the actual bowl--a dog, really?--and crawled from the tiny mattress, too desperate to listen to pain or the thought of poison. 

He tilted the bowl and had guzzled over half of it before heaving and throwing it all back up into the bowl. 

“Sweet cheese and crackers, what on earth . . . .” Judy trailed off and stared at him. “Are you okay?” 

Kelby nodded tiredly, hating everything in that moment. He slumped against the wall and angrily kicked the bowl across the room. 

“Can . . . . can you speak?” 

Kelby nodded again. His long fingers touched his throat and his chin moved up to show Judy a nasty bruise across his neck, directly over his larynx. A rolled up newspaper can do a helluva lot of damage. 

“So you can’t talk right now.” Judy thought for a moment. “Could you write?” 

He nodded, and Hopps dropped a whiteboard marker into the door slot and waited for it to roll to him. 

“You can write on the floor or wherever,” she said. “I just want to learn some things, is that alright?” 

Kelby just stared at her with some suspicion, so she kept going. 

“What’s your name?” 

He spelled ‘Kelby’ on the floor with the shaky handwriting of some- one who’d had his fingers broken, which he had, but Hopps figured it out. 

“Ok, Kelby,” she said, writing in a tiny notebook. “Male or female?” 

He settled for an ‘M.’ 

“Great, now what species are you?” 

‘Human.’ 

“Ok,” she wrote some notes down. “And last one for now, are you a predator species?” 

He just nodded ruefully, and Hopps gave him a wide smile. 

“Thank you very much, Kelby. I promise, no one here is trying to hurt you. They’re just doctors trying to patch you up, okay? Look, I have to go right now, but I promise I’ll be back soon.” 

And he watched her get up and walk away. 

* * * * *

“Whose idea was it to give the apex-predator patient a marker?! The people are still afraid of predators after the night-howler incident, so what do you think would happen if they found out that the Z.P.D. has been keeping a newly discovered apex predator from them? The media would slaughter us, Hopps, that’s what.” 

Judy sighed. “I’m sorry, chief, but I did a name, gender, and species from him. I thought that was worth giving him a  _ marker _ .” 

Bogo visibly relaxed at that. “Yes, yes, I suppose you’re right.” He leaned back in his chair. “So, what did you get?” 

Judy flipped her notebook open. “His name is Kelby, he’s a male of the ‘Human’ species, which is totally new to us. Dr. Rells’ team reported a lot of evidence of torture and abuse, so they’re trying to take it easy on him at the moment.” 

Bogo’s gaze and voice softened a bit as he asked, “How bad, Hopps?” 

Judy swallowed. “Bad. They’re, uh, surprised that he’s not comatose. That he’s alive at all, really.” 

Bogo nodded sadly. “They  _ should _ be very easy on him, then. But he talked, err, wrote to you?” 

“Yes sir, he understands our language but it looks like he was hit in the throat at some point, so he isn’t able to talk at the moment.” 

“Mhm.” Bogo stared somewhere past Judy at the wall. “If he trusts you, like you said he does, then I’m going to assign you and Wilde to protect him, work with the doctors, and to making sure that none of this makes it into the media. Am I clear, Hopps?” 

“Yes sir.” Judy slid from the chair and was halfway to the door before she turned around. “And thank you, chief.” 

“My pleasure, Hopps.” 


	2. The Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're liking it folks, please leave your thoughts!

Kelby convinced himself not to be surprised when they came back with a gurney and special-made muzzle and cuffs. Soft cuffs, but still cuffs. 

He may have convinced himself not to be surprised, but that didn't mean that he wasn’t scared. He drug his painfully unresponsive body into the far corner, mashing his hurting back up against the concrete and working around to stare fearfully at the otter, wolf, and bear. 

They stared back, too, for a moment, then one of them stepped forward and unlocked the doors. 

Kelby let out a pitiful and frantic moan, trying to wedge himself further into the corner. “Puhh . . . . leea . . . . zsee . . . .” he ground out, shoving the word through his torn and swollen throat. Blood started dripping from his nose. 

The otter became a calm sort of frantic, but still frantic nonetheless. “We need to get in there,” he said, voice a few pitches higher than normal. “It’s okay, we won’t hurt you, we want to help. Understand?  _ Help _ .” 

“Ich . . . . verstehen,” Kelby ground, then flinched deeply and quickly gasped, “I . . . . understand.” 

“He  _ speaks _ ,” the otter mumbled to the wolf, who marked something down on a clipboard. “Incredible.” 

Kelby just shivered and tried to press himself further into the wall, badly aggravating his cracked ribs. He gave a broken wail but didn’t move away from the wall. 

The otter crouched down a bit and crept a little way into the cell, getting down to Kelby's level. “Hey hey, you understand me. It’s okay, we aren’t gonna hurt you. We just wanna take you somewhere more comfortable, so you can heal. Ok? We  _ won’t  _ hurt you.” 

Kelby licked his lips, accidentally smearing blood all over his mouth and tongue. “‘Kay,” he slurred, letting his muscles relax a little bit to show submission. 

The otter, visibly relieved, beckoned the wolf and bear forward. “Good, they’re just gonna pick you up, ‘kay? To take you somewhere better. Will you bite them?” 

Kelby tiredly shook his head and rasped, “No.” Then he quietly added, “Prom’se.” 

The otter’s eyes were kind and sympathetic, and he gently said, “Thank you. They’re gonna pick you up now, ‘kay?” 

Kelby didn’t say anything, but he didn’t do any more than flinch when the paws closed around his arms and legs and picked him up. His stomach lurched, but without anything in his stomach to throw up it wasn’t noticeable to his captors. The strain on his ribs made him hiss, but they kept going until they reached the gurney at the door. 

They gently laid him down on it, then the wolf snapped a pair of cuffs to the right side rail, and put the free end on his right wrist. Not too tight, but not escape-able either. 

Kelby just laid there and let it happen, gasping against the pain and almost oblivious to everything. He felt the gurney start to roll, and airily watched the light panels on the ceiling go by. After a few seconds he couldn’t tell if he was moving or if they were. 

They went through a few doors and through a few noisey rooms, whereupon someone threw a blanket over his body. He didn’t have the strength or the presence of mind to try to throw it off, he just laid there and silently prayed for it to end. He was hot and sick and hurting and he just wanted to  _ sleep _ . 

Finally, they went through one last door and the blanket was whisked away. Kelby looked around to see what looked like any plain old hospital room. 

The wolf wheeled his cart next to the bed, and the bear carefully grabbed the blankets by Kelby's head with one paw and by his feet with the other, heaving Kelby from the gurney to the bed. 

They had forgotten to unlock the cuffs, though, so Kelby was jolted a little violently against his wrist and gave a short yelp. The otter was quick to unlock it, all apologies and sorries. They still locked him to the new bed with them anyway, though. 

And he started panicking again as the bear leaned across him to connect an IV into his arm. “Please, please,” he whimpered, trying to will himself deeper into the mattress. 

The otter came back over, motioning the bear back. “Hey hey,” he said, placing his paw gently on Kelby’s arm and making him wince. “You’re okay. We won’t hurt you, we just want to make sure you’re going to get better, okay?” 

Kelby screwed his eyes shut and tried not to cry from frustration and fear. Why was his mind playing such cruel tricks? Was he  _ finally _ dying? Had they finally broken him? Jesus Christ they probably had. He might have told them everything.  _ Everything _ . 

All he could hear was some distant high-pitched whining and vague voices, making him panic more. Everything felt so  _ numb _ , maybe he was about to get his wish and finally just die. 

Rells had watched Kelby’s eyes glaze over and the panic-attack seizure mixture start and about had one of his own. 

“Oh my God call the E-Team! He’s seizing!” 


	3. Even The Doctor Gets Pissed

Judy and Nick were serving an eviction notice in Tundra Town when Rells call came through. They excused themselves from the furious badger and raced to the max. sec. prison hospital. Rells discreetly met them at a side door and guided them into a locked corner room. 

Kelby lay inside, eyes open but completely unseeing. A breathing mask was strapped across his face, one that looked haggard even though no one there had ever seen another Human. 

Judy’s ears fell flat against her skull when she saw him, and she inched toward the bed like she was afraid he would spook. She breathed, “Oh my--what happened?” 

“He had a panic attack and a seizure.” Rells was so harried and tired and scared it was almost painful. “I don’t know what’s happened, what he’s been through, but whoever did this to him has totally traumatized him. I don’t know that I’ve  _ ever _ seen such a horrific case.” 

“Has he been x-rayed?” 

“Yes, I took the liberty of using our new hand-held models, and a CT scan as well. He has two-hundred and six bones, I think, and I counted  _ fifty-three _ fractures. Some of them broken more than once. There’s cracks in his skull and swelling in his brain. Over seventy-five percent of his skin is scar tissue, a good fifty-percent of  _ that _ still bruised and bleeding. If my father was here, he’d call him one tough sum-bitch.” 

Judy and Nick gave him a severe look. Nick half-growled, “What do you mean by that?” 

Rells sighed. “Forgive my crude wording. But the point is that I think he was being interrogated. Definitely tortured, probably for information or something, I don’t know what. But before he had the seizure, he was muttering, ‘Oh God I told them’ over and over again.” His eyes went hard. “I’m giving you that guess because I want you to catch whoever did this, and make them pay. His  _ throat _ has been cut and crudely sewn up twice and heavily traumatized several more times. He spoke once in another language and immediately reacted like someone was going to hurt him.” 

Rells took a breath and visibly reined his temper in. “I want the bastards that did this found, and thrown into the deepest hell-hole you can find. This poor creature didn’t deserve this kind of pain.” 

Judy and Nick’s eyes were wide in shock, but Nick gave an awed nod. “Yeah, we’re on that . . . . doc, I didn’t know you could get so passionate.” 

Rells shook his head sharply. “Normally I’m not,” he excused gruffly. Then he nodded at Kelby’s form. “But this, this is inexcusable. No creature deserves this.” 

Judy nodded soberly. “We agree, doctor.” She took a notepad from her belt. “On another lane, may I ask what you’ve learned about Kelby’s species?” 

Rells nodded. “Yes, it’s a much better subject for conversation.” He retrieved a file from the foot of Kelby’s bed and opened it to show x-ray results and various other medical jargon. “Originally, I believe our friend Kelby had three-hundred and six bones, give or take. Several of them appear to have fused together years ago, I think likely when he was an adolescent. He’s built remarkably similar to primates, but almost as if it were on steroids. His muscle mass is severely depleted, but if restored to capacity, at his peak he would be able to challenge some of your best long-range throwers and runners.” 

Nick lifted an eyebrow. “How has this species managed to stay hidden then?” 

“I don’t know,” Rells admitted. “The only . . . . theory that I have is that he’s from somewhere isolated, maybe, because he’s been so shocked by us as well.” 

“Oooh,” Nick said, grinning at Judy. “He could be a whole new episode for the Discovery Guide at two a.m.! I can hear it now, Humans, aliens! In cahoots with the dinosaurs!” 

Judy ignored him. “So he’s got all the capability to be more dangerous than the majority of our officers?” 

“No, I’d highly doubt that. In his current condition he’s hovering right at a zero-point-five percent danger level. Even fully healed, I’m sure that he abides to natural decency, but if not I’d still only place his threat at a four or five out of fifteen. About the same level I’d give a determined bunny.” 

“Hm.” Judy was scribbling furiously. “When do you think he’ll wake up?” 

“It’s hard to say, but I would guess tomorrow morning would be a good bet. It’ll be a Saturday, are you two going to be on duty?” 

“We’ll come in on our free time.” Judy shrugged. “Poor Kelby doesn’t have anyone else he knows, so maybe waking up with us here will ease some of his anxiety.” 


	4. Hospital Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Movin' right along with the story folks! Hope you enjoy it!  
> Also, I'll be posting several new works along the chain of my Criminal Minds Fic, entitled the Central Oregon Desert Series. So if you enjoyed that one, I'm making more works to go along with it every day!

The hospital was an unsurprising blur of hard chairs, plastic-y tasting water in tiny styrofoam cups, unsettling cold drafts, and the constant, incessant beep of irritating machines. And Nick and Judy sat there all day in that same static environment with no change from Kelby at all, only leaving for lunch and dinner. 

They came back on Sunday, and then in the afternoon on Monday. No change in Kelby’s condition. 

Well, he had started physically healing a little, but only so much could be fixed with saline and throat tubes. Overall, his status was unchanged. 

“I just hate this, Nick,” Judy said early Tuesday morning, as they sat at their kitchen table eating breakfast. “It’s just so sad.” 

Nick was tilting a cup of coffee back and forth aimlessly, eyes all but glazed over. “Yeah, our investigation’s not going much happier either.” He sighed. “It’s four-fifteen, Carrots, we should probably get going.” 

Judy glared at the wall clock and started buttoning up her open uniform shirt. They each put their empty coffee cups in the sink, grabbed a couple of energy bars from the fridge, and headed out to the patrol car to start the day. 

“I get the feeling that today’s an extra coffee kinda day,” Nick suggested as he looked over at Judy, who was staring a bit forlornly out of the window. 

She sighed very deeply for someone so small. “Yeah . . . . I guess it is.” Her foot was tapping slowly against the floorboard. “Are we stopping by again today after our shift?” 

“Sure, just in case.” 

They sat in silence for a long time, just casually cruising the mostly empty streets and watching lamp posts go by. 

Judy’s phone suddenly went off, startling both of them hard, and Judy had to take a moment to breathe deeply before answering. 

“He’s awake!” Rells blurted, fast and excited. “He’s been in and out, but he’s no longer in a coma!” 

Judy looked fast at Nick, and put the phone on speaker. “Is he okay?” 

“Yes, he’s fine. He’s not really responsive, but at least he hasn’t panicked again.” 

“We’re on our way,” Judy promised. “Do you need us to bring anything?” 

“No no, just you two.” Rells was very excited. “I’ll see you soon.” 

And he hung up without waiting for a response. 

“Hey that’s good,” Nick said, taking the next turn so he could get to the freeway and then the hospital. 

“Yeah,” Judy was still staring at her phone. “Amazing.” 

* * * * *

Kelby was staring at the corner T.V. when they walked in, forehead knitted deeply in puzzlement as he watched some movie on mute, starring Jimmy Otterstein and Gemmy Scurryfield. Judy recalled it was some romcom advocating for interspecies relationships, so on principle she would say that she liked it. But still, it was on mute, and it was kind of a weird movie anyway. Maybe Kelby didn’t know how to use a remote, or maybe his species didn’t have technology? That would be interesting. 

Kelby looked over at them, eyes a bit absent but overall more lucid than they’d been before. He blinked a couple times, obviously trying to process what he was seeing, and Nick imagined he could actually see the loading circle moving around. 

After a few long seconds, Kelby roughly cleared his throat and hesitantly rasped, “I . . . . I think we’ve met?” 

Judy nodded slightly and smiled in a way she hoped was encouraging. “Yes we did, I’m Judy and this is my husband, Nick. We’re both officers with the Zootopia Police Department.” 

Kelby blinked a few more times, then slowly nodded. “Okay.” His voice sounded sticky. He looked around and slowly asked, “Where am I?” 

“A Zootopia General Hospital.” Judy only half-fibbed. He might freak out again if he discovered he was in a  _ prison’s _ general hospital. And this time his heart might stop completely. 

Kelby just laid there, looking limp, starved, and defeated, but there was a little life to his eyes. He was still scared, but they must have put him on some kind of calming drug for now. 

He licked his lips almost painfully slowly. “What happened?” 

“Well,” Judy slowly sat in a chair. “We got a call that someone was lying in an alley, hurt badly. So we responded and found you, and called Emergency Medical Services to the scene, and they stabilized you and brought you to a containment unit. You had a panic attack and a seizure after that, and then were moved here for emergency care.” 

Kelby frowned deeper in confusion. “A . . . . seizure?” 

“That’s what Dr. Rells, your provider, believes.” 

Kelby started looking around again, this time faster, fear growing in his eyes. “I--I can’t be here, they’ll find me. I need to g-oo-” the last word broke as he tried to sit up and pain knifed through him deep, agony dropping him back roughly to the mattress. 

Judy was next to him in an instant, worried and trying to calm him down. “Hey hey, what’s happening?” 

He was starting to hyperventilate. “Them, they’ll find me, they’ll--” 

Judy suddenly put a paw on his cheek and gently forced him to look at her, his wild eyes searching hers and finding a surprising amount of compassion there. “We will  _ not _ let anyone hurt you,” she assured firmly. “Never again. You’re safe here.” 

Kelby felt himself miraculously calming, more than he was even willing to admit. Judy noticed it too, from her expression, and the strangeness of the entire situation seemed to fade slightly. 


	5. The Boundaries of Species, and a Test Subject

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y'all already know the premise, this is along my usual line of hurting people and dealing with the aftermath. Please leave your thoughts, they really fuel me!

The next time they visited him, he was curled in a loose fetal position on the hospital bed, facing the door, breathing raggedly. It was clear to Judy’s trained eye that he had been trying to watch the door, just in case someone came in trying to hurt him. Hypervigilance apparently excluded boundaries of species. 

Nick said something about buying some lunch from the cafe and walked out, and Judy just sat next to the bed in her usual chair. It was becoming a routine. 

She was sitting there coloring in a picture on her phone when Kelby suddenly rasped, “Hello.” 

She jumped a little, but covered it well and looked up smiling. “Hey, how are you feeling today?” 

He kind of shrugged. “Okay.” He winced at the movement. “Still hurt a little.” 

Judy nodded. “Doctor Rells told us they would be starting to lower the amount of painkillers you’re on.” 

“Hm.” Kelby muscled himself over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. After he caught his breath, he mumbled, “Makes sense.” 

“For what?” 

“You’ll . . . . be locking me up, I s’pose. Study me.” He said it with clinical coldness and resignation. “Right?” There was zero hope and practically zero question, he said it like it was a statement. 

Judy frowned and felt her ears draw back. “Who told you that?” 

Kelby flinched at the steely tone and seemed to shrink into himself. “I won’t try to run,” he said in a tiny voice. “I . . . . can’t go anywhere. Won’t need to chain me up.” He was starting to tremble slightly. 

“No no no no no,” Judy said, setting a paw gently on his shoulder. “No, Kelby, I  _ promise _ you, I won’t let that happen. You are a living being, here in Zootopia we  _ don’t  _ allow things like that to happen, okay?” 

Kelby wouldn’t meet her eyes, but grudgingly conceded, “Sure.” 

Judy decided that since she wasn’t going to get anywhere with that approach, she would take another. “What did you do for work where you’re from?” 

“I was a cop,” Kelby said quietly, voice slightly wistful. “Before . . . .  _ them _ . . . . God it’s been so long.” 

Judy recognized that she needed to pull him from those thoughts. “A fellow officer, huh? Well, that’s amazing! Do you have a last name, Kelby?” 

“Brandt.” 

Judy squared up slightly. “Good to meet you officially, officer Brandt. I’m officer Hopps.” She got a thoughtful look in her eye. “Kelby, when you recovered . . . . would pursuing a career in the Zootopia P.D. interest you?” 


	6. Alien?! and Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yep it's been a touch of time since the last chapter, and this one's also fairly short, but I hope it conveys well enough what's going through my *interesting* mind. Enjoy, and please leave your thoughts!

When they returned home after work that evening, Judy caught herself absently thinking of Kelby’s (skin?) color. It reminded her of the time a racoon officer, Rosco, had caught the unfortunate case of a malfunctioning bubblegum factory . . . . 

He was so saturated they had to shave him down, at the office no less. Truly a bad day. 

But, that was sort of what Kelby reminded her of. He even had deep blue/purple coloring around his eyes, though she couldn’t be sure if that was natural or not. He was darker than Rosco by several shades, but the texture and the idea were the same. Perhaps maltreatment had caused him to lose all his fur? He had a scant bit on top of his head and across his jaws, but not much. Maybe he could grow his whole body of hair back. 

Nick, laying on the other side of the bed, was having thoughts about Kelby’s origin. He hadn’t seemed surprised or scared by technology, or anything else for that matter, other than the animals. It could be that his species had developed somewhere else in the world, at the same speed, just isolated. But that seemed increasingly unlikely, because of resource troubles and the fact that the entire world was considered studied and categorized. All species worked together to finish exploring and documenting, so the even deepest oceans and forests were officially searched and understood. 

As he thought about that, Nick felt a sort of chill run through him. If Kelby couldn’t have come from Earth, then that only left . . . . 

At his strangled little noise, Judy looked over and watched him stare wide-eyed at her. “Aliens,” he said. “It  _ has _ to be, right?” 

She sighed. “Are you thinking about Kelby? And I swear, if you mention the Discovery Guide, I’ll go sleep on the couch!” 

* * * * *

They stopped by the hospital every day after work, and stayed late on the weekends when they could. 

Kelby was slowly healing up, and Rells made the decision to put him on a few steroids to try and help along the massive healing process. Even so, it was a good three weeks before he could even sit up under his own strength again. 

His ribs and mangled fingers and toes had to have several reconstructive surgeries, as had his left leg, parts of his skull, and one eye. There was massive muscle atrophy that had to be accounted for, but Rells considered his prognosis fairly good, all considering. 

As soon as he was able to feed himself, he was becoming visibly more frightened. He was still convinced that as soon as he was well enough to withstand testing, he would be taken and probably hurt more. No matter what assurances Judy and Nick and even Rells gave him, he wasn’t convinced.   


In fact, he was scared as hell and probably showing it more every day. 


	7. Exposed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Finally getting back on my sleep routine, so that's nice. What with quarantine I'm doing a fair bit of writing, so I figured I could try and grace y'all with another chapter :) Hope you're all having a great day and staying healthy and staying *home*. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and lemme know whatcha think!

The security clearance on Kelby’s ward, and subsequent room, were beyond high, but all it took was one damn dirty doctor and a night-howler enthused copycat to change the media’s ignorance. 

While searching rooms of comatose patients, which was how Kelby had been classified to keep suspicion at bay, for drug cocktails, they found, scared, and videotaped Kelby’s small panic attack. It was posted to Critter-gram, PawTube, Tweeters, and several news stations. Within twenty minutes, it was a maelstrom. 

The Z.P.D. was spammed and rushed with the stories and begged for comment, as was the prison hospital. 

Judy, Nick, Bogo, and Rells met quietly in one of the cordoned off interrogation listen-in rooms, and Kelby had been placed into a wheelchair and wheeled into the interrogation room itself, where a cot had been made up for him. 

“Have we caught the criminals?” Bogo growled. He was past the point of yelling; a loud Bogo was a normal Bogo, but when he was this pissed, he was every bit as scary as a savage leopard. 

Nick took the brunt of the storm. “No sir, we put out an A.P.B. and alerted every unit. Nothing yet.” 

Bogo gave another feral growl that made everyone cringe. Seeing this, Bogo softened perceptively. “My apologies. Dr. Rells, your thoughts?” 

Rells was rubbing his eyes raw. “God I don’t know . . . . we’ll . . . . we’ll just have to go public, I think.” 

All of the officers visibly bristled. 

“Doc, you’ve seen how fragile he is, that could destroy him!” Nick half-barked. “A bunch of people treatin’ him like a science project, that’ll put him down for good.” 

Rells just stared. His voice was cold. “And what do you suggest, Officer. Have the media hound you that a  _ night-howler enthusiast  _ had to break the story of an apex-predator living among them? That two criminals could be more trusted than their city? Their government? I don’t know about you but I have to go home to a family, who just texted me photos of paparazzi on my  _ front lawn _ . I just . . . . I can’t  _ do _ this.” Now his voice was shaking. 

Bogo closed his eyes and sighed as Nick opened his mouth to argue. “Officer Wilde,” he said sharply. “Stand down. The doctor is right. We are going to have to go public.” He shook his head. “And may God help us all.” 

And so the month of hell officially began. 

* * * * *

Kelby gradually became desensitized to the cameras, the flashing, and the feeling of eyes on him constantly. Whatever type of one-way glass they were using, it didn’t cover the flashes of cameras. 

Being unable to walk, he couldn’t pace the interrogation room like he wanted to, but the biggest thought on his mind was that  _ they betrayed me _ . 

He hadn’t really expected them to be telling the truth, but for a few moments he had allowed himself to hope . . . . 

And look what happened. 

He spent most of his days staring blankly at walls, studying the marks from various surgeries, or tracking the occasional bug across the far wall. Apparently the only non-sentient type of animal he could find. 

Orderlies came in three times a day with a bowl of food and two full bottles, one with water, the other with some kind of protein blend in it. Carnivores had to stay alive somehow without eating their very aware friends, he supposed. 

He’d give anything for a knife. Either break out or end it for good. He no longer cared which. 


	8. Chapter 8

It had lasted a week before Nick put his foot down. Firmly. “This can’t be any good for him. He’s in  _ trauma recovery _ . No more. He is  _ done _ .” 

Rells, who looked to have lost several pounds he clearly needed, nodded. “It . . . . it’s enough.” 

So they moved him again, this time to a regular hospital room. New photos still circulated, but at least they had a better tone than those of the interrogation room. 

Less criminal-esque. 

And Kelby was back to not talking to anyone. 

Several more surgeries had to be performed, he apparently had lacerated his liver and had the broken point of a knife floating around between his intestines. They discovered a small brain bleed that had to be attended to, and another broken piece of steel just above his left knee. 

The surgeries took a toll, but in the long run they would only help him get better. He was already beginning to flesh out, and the hair on his face and arms was growing back darker. 

There were smattered acid wounds all over his body, which the doctors assumed could be to blame for full-body hair loss, but it was hard to say anything conclusively when Kelby refused to talk to them. 

His panic attacks had on the whole ceased, and only one traitorous doctor had the fortune of catching a particularly nasty one on video. Two of the security guards had left the room with minor injuries from that bout. 

And Bogo’s officers still couldn’t identify the doctor who had taken the video. 

“How is it so easy to post something wrong, and so hard to backtrack them?” he groused to Clawhouser, who had brought up some paternity leave paperwork. His wife, a beautiful leopard named Fess, was about to have twins. 

“Uuuh, because whoever does it is very good at hiding it?” the tubby cheetah absently asked. He started twiddling his thumbs. “You know, chief, we’ve uhh, we’ve been thinking of names for the babies, and, uhh, we were thinking of naming one Mason . . . . if that’s okay with you of course, I--we--don’t want to overstep--” 

An open-mouthed Bogo put up a hoof to stop the babble. “Oh, well, erm, I would be honored,” he half stuttered. “That--that is very kind of you and Fess. What, what brought that on?” 

Clawhouser looked vaguely embarrassed. “Well, you’ve always been very kind to me, and even during the . . . . nighthowler . . . . incident, Judy told me that you fought the mayor to keep me on the payroll. I just, I really appreciate it.” He smiled goofily. “Fess and I appreciate it.” 

Bogo, still slightly stunned, just stood up and gave Clawhouser a bro-back-slapping-hug across his desk. “Enjoy your leave, and take care of your little ones, Benjamin.” 

Clawhouser’s eyes were watering slightly. “Thanks, chief.” 

* * * * *

Kelby’s refusal to talk was at the point of harming himself and the doctors, because he wouldn’t even tell them when he was in pain or where they could locate other injuries. The only thing left for them to do was bring in a psychologist, who left the room after three hours aggravated and sick of his own voice. 

He point-blank told the staff, “I’m by far not the best in my profession, but I don’t think  _ anyone _ could get him to respond at this point. Please don’t ask me in for him again.” 

And they were left basically back at square one. 


	9. Please, No

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotta whumpage, a few new answers about what happened, and the effects of trauma. Lemme know what y'all think!

_ “Tell us where she is, or we kill your daughter right here!”  _

_ Kelby could only shake his head and cry, thinking,  _ Please, no, no nono nononononono . . . . 

_ The sound of the gunshot was the loudest sound he’d ever heard besides his own scream.  _

* * * * *

Kelby woke up sick from his dream. He had mere seconds to think about it before vomiting up water and protein shake on the bed. 

The sheep nurse that had been monitoring his spiking vitals gave a scared  _ bleep _ noise and fled the room. 

Kelby slumped back into the pillows and put a trembling hand up to his face, feeling hot tears flowing.  _ Fuck _ . He hadn’t thought about that in a long time now, he thought he’d blocked it out. His little girl, dead, because of his stupid fucking moral code. His stubbornness. Fuck, he’d killed her as surely as if he’d pulled the trigger. 

He didn’t realise he was violently sobbing until someone touched his arm and he jerked back so violently he fell out of the bed. He scrambled underneath and behind the cot, huddled up into a ball and just let himself bawl about  _ everything _ . The years of torture he’d gone through, Bella’s death, that fucking witness that he and she gave their lives for, that he couldn’t remember if he’d told them about her or not. Everything. 

He ripped the remaining IV lines and monitoring pads off in a haze, only wanting  _ everything off, away, get away from me! _

He ripped his nails up and down his skin, where he could still feel their hands on him, torturing him, making him bleed for their own sadistic pleasure. When he felt the blood from his fingernails he freaked out even more, plunging further into the memory. He swiped at his skin and stitches, breaking them all open and gouging inch-deep scratches into his chest and arms and back. 

_ God get off getoffgetoffgetofffff . . . .  _

The last thing he remembered was seeing someone with a gun, and a dart sticking out of his forearm. 

* * * * *

After the alarms on the hospital PA subsided, everyone took a deep breath and drug the unconscious human from behind the bed. He left a hefty trail of blood, and one of the rescuers, an off-duty firefighter, nearly vomited when they saw what he’d done to himself. 

Ganja, the on-duty provider when Rells was gone, flinched deeply and said, “We’ll need to move him to another room, to get this all cleaned up.” 

“Are restraints now necessary, doctor?” one of the assistants asked. 

Ganja sighed. “Yes,” she said. “Contact officers Wilde and Hopps, they’re listed as his emergency contacts. They’ll need to be here to . . . . determine further care.” 

* * * * *

“What do you mean he  _ clawed his arms _ ?” Nick burst. “Those scratches are like three centimeters deep!” 

Ganja closed her eyes and took a calming breath. “Yes, officer Wilde, I am aware. The security feed indicates that he suffered some kind of . . . . nightmare, and had a flashback. He was scared, and found a hole to hide in. He was operating on basic instinct. We think he suffered a traumatic flashback, and tried to bring himself back by scratching himself, but we don’t know for sure. We had to sedate him and restrain him in the new room, so that hopefully it doesn’t happen again.” 

Judy frowned slightly. “You know, that could make it worse.” 

Ganja nodded sympathetically. “Yes, I know. I just hope it doesn’t.” 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> VERY short, I'm very tired. Anyhow, hope ya enjoy it!

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. 

Whirring, too. 

Machines. 

Antiseptic smell. 

Hospital. 

Right.  _ Zootopia _ . Fuck-ever that meant, he had no idea. 

Restraints. Great. Made sense. 

Inch-deep scratches got that done right quick. 

Damn that panic attack. 

He didn’t even want to think about it, because he’d just have another. 

Kelby opened his eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling. 

He suddenly just wanted to  _ talk _ to someone. He didn’t want to be alone. 

Judy and Nick were sitting in the corner. Judy was on her phone. Nick was open-mouthed snoring. 

Kelby mumbled, “Still mad at you.” When Judy jumped and stared up at him in shock, he misread it and added, “But I get it. I guess.” 

“ _ Kelby _ , you’re . . . . talking!” 

Kelby nodded slowly. “Still mad.” 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All right! All three of my currently ongoing fics have just been updated with new chapters, so if you like my work I recommend hopping over to take a look at the other eight I have published, five of which are considered completed. Anyhow, just wanted to throw that out there. Enjoy the chapter, and leave your thoughts!

Kelby was officially put into the Species Index that Thursday, with a lot of pomp and ceremony he didn’t see because he was in a hospital room and the event was apparently being held at the City Hall. Not that he would have wanted to see it anyway, but it still felt weird. 

Judy and Nick were there every single day, as his protection detail when on duty, and as his ‘friends’ when they were off. 

After the years of captivity, it, too, felt weird. Foreign. 

He had finally started to recover from the years of hell. 

They had kept him a dark little hole, laughably like a dungeon. So his skin was unnaturally translucent, his eyes had taken on a faded grey color as opposed to whatever-the-hell they originally were (he truly couldn’t remember), and the endless, chronic pain he’d become accustomed to from lack of essential vitamins and nutrients was fading. He knew he had contracted malaria somehow during his ‘visit,’ which was a new and terrifying experience for the Zootopia doctors to try and deal with, but they eventually figured out how to de-malarialize him. 

They couldn’t fix his left hand, which he recalled being stomped on and burned and cut open many times throughout the years, so he wasn’t very surprised about that. They told him he’d be lucky if he ever used it for anything again, that he was lucky enough to not have had it amputated. 

When he explained that he’d already lost both pinky fingers and seven toes to his captors, they looked horrified. Not only that it had happened, but that he had a collective twenty digits. Usually it was sixteen, sometimes eighteen in the rodent community. But twenty? More rare than not. 

The more he trusted them, the more he told them. And the more he told, the sadder they got. The poor creature had been through some hell, they collectively agreed, and they’d protect him with their lives if it came down to it. He didn’t deserve to suffer anymore. 

So they treated his multiple infections, figured out how to manipulate some of the fractures so they would heal better, and once they figured out what pain killers worked, started pumping him full of them so he wouldn’t be in pain anymore. Which was like a whole revelation to him. He’d always had pain, for the last six some years of his life. Bad or relatively minor, it was still always there. Being without it was almost intoxicating. 

And they set about trying to set him up to be discharged from the hospital and taken to a rehab facility. And they were ready to move heaven and earth to do so if they had to. 


	12. Chapter 12

Four in the morning coffee in the kitchen again. Nick and Judy were sitting at the table, scrolling through their respective phones. Nick was looking through PawsBreak, a news app, and Judy was looking through the monetary quotes by the hospital of caring for Kelby’s various needs. 

“I think we could do it!” she declared suddenly. 

Nick grunted. “Do what, exactly?” 

“Be Kelby’s care family.” 

Nick choked on his coffee. “ _ Carrots _ , you can’t do that to me,” he wheezed through coughing and choking. After a few more minutes of him choking and cleaning up and Judy laughing, he finally said, “I mean, yeah sure we  _ could _ . But it’s gotta be up to him, we can’t just force him into anything he wouldn’t want to do.” 

Judy rolled her eyes affectionately. “I know that, moron. Whaddya think, can we ask him today?” 

“Yeah of course.” Nick looked down. “Gol-dang it, Carrots, you made me get coffee all over my uniform!” 

* * * * *

Kelby was half-awake and in the middle of some pleasant drug-induced dream when Officers Wilde and Hopps respectively came in at five thirty in the morning, and the two night shift officers, a puma and a wolf, left. 

He roused himself slightly and offered them a slight smile and nod. 

“Good morning, Kelby!” Judy said cheerily. 

“Mornin’,” Kelby mumbled, hitching himself up to a sitting position. It hurt slightly, but he felt better on the whole than he had in many years. 

“How are you feeling?” 

“Eh, pretty good.” He flexed his bad hand the short amount he could and grimaced. “Hand’s stingin’ a little,” he admitted. 

Judy hummed understanding. “Have you had breakfast?” She then wrinkled her nose in what looked like disgust. “Oh you just woke up. Duh. Nevermind. What do you  _ want  _ to have for breakfast?” 

Kelby shrugged and gave a soft huff of laughter. “I don’t know . . . . something warm I guess. None of the food I’m used to is here so yeah, I don’t know.” 

Judy hummed and hawed in thought for a moment. “Well, I guess, maybe some oatmeal? The cooks can put some roasted crickets in there if you’d like.” 

Kelby barely caught his grimace before it caught his face. “Oatmeal sounds really good. Sans crickets, I think.” 

Her and Nick laughed much harder than Kelby would have considered appropriate for a comment on the edibility of crickets. 

* * * * *

They brought back a bowl of hot oatmeal with raisins, several random books, and a couple of board games and decks of cards. 

After savoring the pretty decent oatmeal and running a curious finger through some of the books, Kelby looked up with an intrigued expression. 

“I’d like to read some of your history books,” he said. “To see just how it compares with human history.” 

Both were suddenly very interested. “What . . . .” Nick looked embarrassed. “I don’t know if this is an acceptable question but . . . .” 

Kelby quirked an eyebrow and motioned for him to go ahead. 

_ “Where do you come from?”  _

The question was so violent and excited and eager and just  _ everything _ that Kelby just started laughing. “You sound like a five year old,” he explained through gasps. 

When he had finally calmed down, he started the impossible task of trying to explain. “Definitely not from here, I know. From planet Earth, but where humans are the only really intelligent animals. Uhh, we have--had--a lot of governments at one time, all over. Lot of wars over that. Our history goes back, like, a million or so years I think? I dunno, I’m not a historian or an anthropologist, uhh, a scientist who studies humans. We’d already explored most of Earth, so I don't really know how I’m  _ here _ . . . .” He shrugged. “I just don’t fricking  _ know, _ man.” 


	13. Chapter 13

The day finally came when he could be moved from his bed into a wheelchair, and he was beaming ear-to-ear as a panther officer pushed him around the hospital to meet the doctors and nurses that had performed the many surgeries he’d needed. 

His arms were in arguably the best shape of his whole body, so it wasn’t a week before he could wheel himself short distances. 

Apparently many photos were now circulating, documenting his progress to the average, unknown citizen, and Kelby did not know exactly how he felt about that. There seemed to be a collective agreement among those that heard his story that he was a refugee of some kind, and that they were at least okay with his presence, Nick told him. That much relieved him. 

Quite a few Zootopians, and others around the world, sent cards or care packages or donated to a rehabilitation fund. Which basically added up to paying for his meals, clothing, and other basics that Nick and Judy would have to deal with when he moved in with them. 

That he had readily agreed to. He knew he could trust them. He also knew they had weapons and a police force to protect him, if need be. 

The day he finally,  _ finally,  _ got to go outside, an entire crowd was waiting to greet him. 

He had to resist the surprisingly strong urge to hide his face in his hands, and shyly lifted a hand in a hesitant wave with a meek little smile. 

Everyone just . . . . cheered. 

It was so surprising and unexpected that Kelby almost fell out of his chair. As it was, Nick grabbed his arm and asked, “Are you okay?” 

“Uhh,” Kelby looked around in mild shock. “Yeah, yeah I’m alright.” 

And for the first time in a long time, he actually felt like he was. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I was finished with this story, but I just kinda wrote some stuff awhile back and decided to cap it off like this. I hope you’ve all enjoyed the story, and that you know just how much I appreciate everyone for the kind words and encouragement. Love you guys, hopefully I wrote something you enjoyed enough to come back for some of my other stories.   
> But anyway, enjoy!

Nick and Judy’s two story suburban house was actually large enough to comfortably fit Kelby’s size, diminutive for most Humans but fair to middling for Zootopians. 

He no longer needed a wheelchair to get around, he’d graduated to a cane, but was still glad to be roomed on the ground floor. Getting around was hard, his right leg gave him fits several times a day and his left hand was all but useless. But he was hopeful. For the first time in a long time he was around someone who truly cared about him. 

He could dress and feed himself with minimal difficulty now, but someone else had to prepare meals with his limited coordination. His progress was in leaps and bounds. Nick and Judy were assigned to their own home to keep him safe, and being well-paid for it. 

One morning, just after everyone got up for coffee, Kelby walked from his room shirtless, because he was having trouble with his arm and could only throw a blanket around his shoulders. He was very embarrassed, but Nick and Judy were, as always, understanding. 

The only discussion of it came when he settled into a chair and the blanket slipped into his lap, exposing his shoulders. 

They were a messy latticework-like tangle of scars, deep and obviously still painful. Many of them intersected and cut off the paths of muscles. 

Neither officer immediately reacted or commented on it; Judy resettled the blanket over his shoulders and Nick handed Kelby a cup of coffee. Then both sat down across the small table. 

“Kelby,” Judy said softly. “I  _ have _ to ask you. What happened to make someone do this to you?” 

For a moment Kelby just stared into his cup, then hoarsely rasped, “I was protecting a witness. She was to testify about her husband’s gang affiliation, I think he was a major lieutenant or something.” His eyes squeezed shut and he shuddered through a breath. “They . . . . they went out and found my daughter,” he whispered. “They killed her, all over that stupid testimony.” 

Both officers were quiet a long second, then Judy leaned over and placed a comforting paw on his hand. “I’m so sorry, Kelby.” 

He visibly forced himself from the memory, eyes shiny with tears that he blinked away with effort. “Good coffee.” 


End file.
